Sections

Video: Will Ontario strip clubs morph into brothels?

Dominatrix Terri-Jean Bedford and Angel Wolfe (daughter of Brenda Wolfe, one of Robert Pickton's victims, who opposes the ruling citing extreme danger for sex trade workers) gets into a heated argument after a press conference in Toronto. Photo credit: Alex Urosevic/ National Post

Going forward, sex trade workers in the province will be able to hire bodyguards, drivers, and a support staff as well as work indoors in organized brothels.

The ruling is nothing short of controversial. The federal government is up in arms about the decision: “I think the position of this government is well-known,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper told Postmedia News. “We view prostitution as bad for society, and we view its effects as particularly harmful for our communities and for women, and particularly for vulnerable women. And so we will continue to oppose prostitution in Canada.”

While the decision is binding in Ontario only, it will likely prompt similar challenges nationwide.

We’ve interviewed Tim Lambrinos, head of The Adult Entertainment Association of Canada, and Kat MacLeod, who works to help women out of the sex trade, on their very different views about the ruling. Lambrinos explains how strip clubs might change if the ruling holds up, while MacLeod aruges that strip clubs have always doubled as brothels. The government is acting like a pimp, she says.

Mike MacDonald is a news editor and writer at Postmedia. His writing also appears weekly in The Onion. When not working, Michael can be found playing crunchy grooves on his ukulele in his Toronto home... read more.View author's profile